us and pronounceth us righteous by a legall course of proceeding as in these words That we might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him such a righteousnesse as God the Father will worke in us and will accept of us As when the wife is betrothed and married to a man all her old debts are laid upon her husband and the law meddles no more with her and secondly all his lands at least the third part of them are made over to her What shee hath in point of debt is put over to him so all our sinnes and debts of corruptions are laid upon Christ and all the rich fefments of grace and mercy in Christ are made over to a beleever and hence a beleever comes to be acquitted and justified before God From the first part of this description the point is this Doctrine Iustification is an act of God the Father upon the beleever It is an act that passeth from God the Father upon the beleever For the proofe of this point there are three verses in the same Chapter which make it good the 18 19 20. verses and so on to the end of the Text in the 18. verse hee saith All things are of God which hath reconciled us unto himselfe by Iesus Christ of God that is of God the Father and yet more plainly in the 19. verse God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe not imputing their sinnes to them Now what is meant by God in these two verses the old rule of Divines is this that wheresoever you finde the Name of God put in opposition to Iesus Christ it must not be taken essentially but personally for the Father For it were almost an absurd thing to say that Christ were in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe therefore the Apostle implies thus much God the Father was in Christ reconciling and God the Father by Christ reconciled the world unto himselfe and then in the 20. and 21. verses he saith Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you through us we pray you in Christs stead that yee be reconciled to God that is to God the Father for he hath made him sinne for us which knew no sinne and another proofe is in the 3. of Saint Iohn 14.15 and so to the end of the 18. verse it is an observation of wise Divines and good Interpreters when our Saviour comes to trade with Nichodemus about eternall life hee doth not onely content himselfe to speake of himselfe alone as he was Christ the Redeemer of the world but he sets him yet a little higher in the 14. verse hee saith As Moses lifted up the brasen Serpent in the wildernesse so must the Sonne of Man bee lifted up that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternall life A man would have thought that this had beene enough but hee stayes not here but he puts him one pin above all these and saith For God so loved the world that hee gave his onely begotten Sonne for it that whosoever beleeveth on him might not perish but have everlasting life as if hee had said there is not only a Christ prepared and sent but God the Father also loved the world here is the highest staire to stay up the heart so that the point is plaine and sure enough Now let us make it cleare and that I shall doe by answering two questions Quest. 1 First why it is called an act of God the Father Quest. 2 Secondly why an act of the Father upon the beleever Quest. 1 For the former why doth the description say it is an act of God the Father Answer I answer it is an act of the Father not excluding the Sonne or the worke of the holy Ghost which must both bee understood it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever but it is through Christ there are these two grounds or reasons why it is given to the Father Reason 1 First because the Father was the party that was properly offended the Father is the first person in the Trinitie and he was directly offended by Adams sinne it is true the Sonne and the holy Ghost were offended too as being friends with the Father and having a relation to the Father and a sweet fellowship with the Father but the sinne was directly against the Father and indirectly against the Son and the holy Ghost The groūd of the point is this it wronged that worke of Creation wherein the manner of the worke of the Father appeared in a speciall manner and the manner of the worke of the Son appeared in redemption and the manner of the worke of the holy Ghost appeared in sanctification so that God the Father was the first in the worke of the Creation the Sonne second in the worke of redemption the holy Ghost third in the worke of sanctification Now creation being the worke wherein the power of the Father did most shew it selfe Adam falling away from this did principally wrong the Father for his manner of worke appearing herein therefore Adam did herein goe directly crosse to God Excellent is that phrase 1 Iohn 2.1 Little children these things write I unto you that ye sinne not but some may say what if we doe sinne why saith hee we have an Advocate with the Father even Iesus Christ the Iust. Now no man saith wee have an Advocate with an advocate no for that were absurd for no advocate pleads to another advocate but he pleads to the partie offended for the partie which hath offended now in that the Apostle saith We have an Advocate with the Father even Iesus Christ It is plaine that God the Father was the Person directly offended the issue then is thus much The Father being the Creditor and the Person directly offended the Lord Iesus Christ became our Suretie and the creditor doth require the debt at the hands of our Suretie and acquits the debtor the creditor requires this but the acquittance comes mainly and properly from the Father because the debt was due to him so that God the Father is the Creditor the Sonne is the Suretie the poore sinner is the debtor the holy Spirit is the messenger that brings the acquittance from God the Father and saith loe the Father hath accepted of thee in his Sonne the Suretie hath paid the debt for thee and see here is the acquittance for thee so that though the holy Ghost doth bring the acquittance yet the Father must give it This is the first reason Reason 2 Secondly wee say that Iustification is an act of God the Father because the Father is the fountaine in the Deity as Divines use to say in all the workes that are done by the Deitie the Father is the first for as the Persons are in their being so they are in their working The Father in order workes before the Son and the holy Ghost the Sonne workes not before the Father hath wrought and the holy Ghost workes not before the Father
and the Son have wrought Hence it is that actions are given especially to the Father though not excluding the Sonne nor the holy Ghost but yet howsoever they are all equall in their working in regard of time yet the Father is first in regard of order A malefactor is now arraigned and condemned and the pardon is to be begged and none but the Kings sonne the young Prince can have a pardon his abilities are onely able to carry him through the worke the Prince begs it the Favorite brings it but the King onely grants it so it is here the Lord Iesus Christ is the Sonne of the everlasting Father and the Prince of peace and hee it is that begs the pardon of his Father hee sends it to us by the hands of the holy Ghost but only the Father grants the pardon When the soule hath long beene humbled and selfe denying and said Lord forgive the trespasses of thy servant and yeelds and layes downe the weapons of deflance and falls at the footstoole of the Lord Iesus Christ and rowles it selfe upon his merits then the Spirit comes and saith thy sinnes are pardoned thy person is accepted I bring thee this newes from God the Father God is now reconciled to thee in and by the Lord Iesus Christ now the Father is the King that grants this pardon the Sonne is he that begs it and the Spirit is the messenger that brings it Now you see how it is an act of God the Father Quest. 2 Secondly I come to shew why it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever Answer The reasons of the question are these we must understand that the actions of God are of two sorts First there are some actions which doe remain in God which are confined within the compasse of his owne Councell and goe no further and they are immanent actions they stay in God and goe no further A man may conceive in his mind what heresolves to doe in his heart whether hee will doe such a thing or no and no man can tell what he intends to doe but himselfe but if a man will practise answerably according to his purpose then he doth expresse the worke outwardly which he intended inwardly and now hee workes upon the creature and makes it to receive some impression of that good which hee kept secretly in himselfe There are some actions which remaine in God as the decrees and purposes of God before the foundation of the world and they are confined within the high Councell table of Heaven Father Sonne and holy Ghost and these never appeared to the eye of the world Secondly there are actions also which passe from God upon the creature and doe worke a change and an alteration upon the creature and these wee call transient actions or actions that passe which are not onely in God but passe from God and doe frame and order and dispose of the creature as God sees fit and of this sort are all the actions that belong to a Christian except predestination for the Lord doth not reveale those secrets unto any by the worke of vocation which is wrought upon the creature for there the Lord quickens desire and stirres up hope and kindles love and joy and the Lord turnes the face of the soule God-ward and in adoption regeneration and all the workes of grace and salvation and of this kinde is justification and this is the reason why I call it a transient action because it passeth upon the creature but that must be warily understood with a graine of salt as the Proverbe is now what change is this I answer the Lord workes a change upon the creature two wayes First the Lord is said to passe a worke or an action upon the creature when he puts some kind of abilitie upon the creature either spirituall or naturall as when the Lord makes a wicked man a good man an adulterous man a chaste man and of an envious proud malicious man a patient meeke and holy man and this we call a naturall change because there is a gracious frame put into the heart and soule which overpowers the creature and all things are become new new affections new desires but this is not all for here is the difficultie Secondly the Lord is said to make a change upon the creature when he takes off some relations and respects which the creature had and puts upon it some other respects hee doth not put them into the soule but puts the soule into another roome and they are not naturally qualities but onely relations which are imprinted upon the soule of man and these are called morall and of this kinde is justification as thus Take a Prentice that is bound by covenant and Indenture for so many yeeres and he is now fallen into an ague or a burning fever hee hath two relations First he is an apprentice Secondly hee hath a weake sickly distempered body now there may bee a double change wrought in this man according to this double disposition first the master burnes the Indentures and gives him his time and sets him free from his service and hee that was an apprentice before is now a freeman this is a morall change for all this while he is as sicke as he was before but the former relation is quite gone and the master cannot now command him to his service now the fellow servants cannot dominere over him because he is not now a servant but now the wise Physitian he comes and he by good means helps the man of his disease and brings him to a faire sweet and wholsome temper of body and now there is a change in the very nature of this servant before he was distempered but now he is well ordered before hot but now finely coole here is something wrought in the nature of this man Just so it is in this change of the soule there is a morall change in justification a man is bound to the Law and liable to the penaltie of it and guiltie of the breach of it now God the Father in Jesus Christ acquits a man of this guilt and delivers him from this revenging power of the Law and that 's not all but withall hee puts holinesse into the heart and wisedome into the minde and puritie into the affections this is called a naturall change because there are new spiritual abilities put into the heart not because of the nature of it but because of the thing which it works as to take the example of Scripture 1 Iohn 3.14 Wee are translated from death to life As it is with a man taken prisoner in Turkie or some other place haply a Christian of England he is accounted a Traitor there and is condemned as a Traitor the man being weake of himselfe and not able to deliver himselfe he must bee dealt by as a Traitor but now if this man bee rescued and finde some way of escape and bee set upon some other shore whereby he may be conveyed
no man can suffer the pains of Hell except he bee in the very place of it against which cavill this truth doth profesly maâ—ch for the time and place are but common circumstances the main substance of it is not in regard of time or place but in regard of the fierce displeasure of God which seizeth upon a creature and the veine of vengeance which is let into his soule if God would be present with a man by his favour though hee were in the place of Hell yet he should bee as it were in Heaven as Esay 30.33 Tophet is prepared of old the burning thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord as a riâ—â—r of brimstone doth kindle it so that wheresoever the streame of the brimstone of Gods wrath seizeth there is Hell againe the place is no part of debt and therefore it is no part of the payment but the paiment of the mony that makes the satisfaction This is that which is spoken concerning Adam Thou shalt die the death hee doth not say thou shalt goe to Hell the wicked goe to Hell because they cannot pay as the debter goes to prison because he cannot pay the debt all that justice requires is this to have payment hee doth not say thou shalt goe to Hell but because the wicked cannot satisfie the justice of God and answer the Law therefore they are imprisoned and cooped up in hell and it may be more plain thus there are many reprobates in this life that have not onely hell in expectation but they have it so far in fruition when the Lord wounds the spirit and the terrours of the Almightie incampe a man and stab him to the very heart and they are in the very beginnings of hell Now because the wicked cannot beare the wrath of God but they would breake under it therefore they must die that they may â—e made immortall and be able to suffer all the wrath of God forever but our Saviour may as well pay the debt in mount Golgotha as in the prison of hell Secondly some paines of hell were endured and may be endured by our Saviour and yet the union of the manhood with the Godhead might still be untouched and no way in the world bee blemished though there were a separation and a withdrawing of the sense of the sweetnesse of the favour of God yet this was not the separation of the union but onely of the loving countenance of the Lord the humane nature saw not nor felt not those gracious smiles which formerly it did yet hee was ever united to the Godhead and ever supported by the Godhead and hee did ever rest upon God this doth cut in sunder the cavils of Bellarmine as it was with Iob he was able to grapple with a great deale of Gods wrath by faith and therefore he saith Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee Gods killing anger and Iobs trusting stood both together in this in the measure of it Now if a poore saint of God can doe it and is able to beare the intimations of Gods wrath then much more Christ being God and Man might doe it and yet trust in him and never bee separated from him in regard of the union of the soule of our Saviour for as it is with the death naturall in the body of our Saviour as the body of our Saviour died and in dying suffered death naturall as an effect of Gods wrath God smote him howsoever the body died the death naturall yet the Godhead was still united to the body of our Saviour in the grave and brought soule and body together againe so that the union with the Godhead is still maintained so it is here the soule of our Saviour might be separated from the sense and sweetnesse of Gods favour and mercy and yet the union betweene the Godhead and the Manhood bee still maintained as God might leave the body to the death naturall so he might leave the soule to a kinde of supernaturall death and the soule might want the sense of the sweetnesse of the favour of God and yet the union not be broken off for why could not our Saviour beare this curse as well as any other part of it and not be blemished this brought punishment upon our Saviour but it puld not away any grace which hee was possest withall observe these three particulars herein First the Godhead in the death of our Saviour was fastned and united inseparably to the manhood and did sustaine and support the manhood Secondly the Godhead did preserve the manhood from corruption and did sustaine and support the Manhood Thirdly the sense and sweetnesse and the feeling operation of Gods mercy and favour unto the soule was restrained from both and the wrath of God seized upon both Thirdly our Saviour suffered paine in his soule as he was our Mediatour in our roome and in our stead and as he had our sinnes imputed to him The Manhood bore the sufferings and the Godhead supported him in the sufferings this conclusion I thought good to adde to meet with a strange dream of Bellarmine and that is this saith he if the Lord Jesus Christ did suffer the wrath of God the Father then the guiltlesse should have beene condemned and the innocent punished and how can God doe this or how can our Saviour suffer this Is not God the Father unjust to punish the just and Christ unwise to suffer as unjust being just I answer it is a silly weake cavill therefore take but these two respects with you and you shall see it will bee plaine for as Christ was in himselfe considered he was guiltlesse and therefore approved of and beloved of the Father but as hee tooke our sinnes and our guilt upon him hee was accounted as a sinner though he was not a sinner and he tooke our sins on him by imputation and therefore no reason but he should suffer them and the punishment of them not in regard of any sinne that hee had or did but because it was imputed to him therefore God the Father condemned him as guiltie so runs the phrase of Scripture Hee suffered for our sinnes and the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we were healed he suffered not for any sinnes that he had committed but for the condition of all sinfull nature imputed to him and these divers respects wee doe practise for ordinarily we are bound to love a creature as God made him and then to hate him as hee makes himselfe sinfull the Judge goes to the triall of a Nisi prius and his sonne comes before him in the person of the debter now though the Judge love him as a sonne yet he will condemne him as a suretie the Judge loves and pitties him in one regard but yet hee passeth sentence against him in another regard So it is here with the Lord Jesus Christ when God the Father stands upon the tribunall of justice and was pleased to follow
faith therefore say they in the whole course of Scripture faith is cast upon the Godhead as Esay 50.10 Who so is wise amongst you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voyce of his servant he that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay himselfe upon his God all the phrase of Scripture runs thus Trust and hope and rely upon the Lord. So Iohn 14.1 2. vers Let not your hearts be troubled yee beleeve in God beleeve also in mee marke this Now did a man beleeve upon the Father as Father onely then hee did not beleeve upon the Sonne or did he beleeve onely upon the Sonne as Sonne then he did not beleeve upon the Father but in that hee beleeves upon the Father and the Sonne It is therefore plaine that he fals first upon the Godhead and seeing it is so that wee must beleeve upon the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost therefore we are not to beleeve upon one of them only but upon the whole Deity and the divine nature and all the three Persons in the divine nature for as the Schoolemen say that which doth appertaine to this as this belongs to this and to none other Now we beleeve in all the whole Trinitie and therefore wee close with all three the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and hence it is that these Divines observe that when we are said to beleeve in the Scriptures and in the promise not that any doe it properly but so farre as the promise that God in Christ revealing and promising and communicating himselfe so farre we beleeve in the promise that is in his faithfulnesse truth and mercy revealed in the promise The second reason which they alleage is this say they that which in reason must stay satisfie the soule of a beleever it is that in reason to which the soule must first betake it selfe and upon which it most first stay it selfe for faith goes out for succour and for good therefore that which only can satisfie faith to that onely it must first goe the beleever is dead in sinnes because of the commission of them but there is life in God therefore to an infinite God the soule comes to worke an infinite satisfaction for him which all creatures cannot doe in this case the Godhead prepares the humane nature and workes by the humane nature and gives power to the humane nature and makes it able to suffer and to satisfie faith sees that he hath offended an infinite God and deserved punishment of an infinite value therefore hee must repaire to him that can onely repaire in mercy to his soule therefore saith the Prophet David Psalme 130.7 verse Hope in the Lord for ever for with the Lord is plenteous redemption and in Esay 26.4 Trust in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength wee have everlasting miseries and troubles and distempers but with the Lord Iehovah is everlasting strength therefore trust in him for ever nay hence it is that our Saviour saith Iohn 17.3 This is life eternall that they know thee to bee the very God and whom thou hast sent even Iesou Christ Now if you aske me which of these judgements I follow I answer because I love not to bee as a man that is here and there and no where in truth but I love to bee as a man that dwels at home for I am not ignorant that many Divines wise and learned whose parts and gifts I reverence they follow the former opinions and for my part I leave a judicious hearer to take which side he will but in truth the two last arguments have prevailed with me that the heart of a poor sinner beleeves and stayes it selfe firstly upon the Godhead and Deity and afterwards upon the Humanitie and mee thinkes the two former arguments seeme not to compell any mans understanding for bee it granted that the former Scriptures doe reveale the Lord Jesus Christ and mention him often as man yet it is as true they reveale him to bee God and mention his Godhead not mentioning at all his humanitie but whensoever they doe mention his humanitie firstly it is for good reason partly by way of prophecie to foretell of Christ what hee should be and partly by way of story and relation to relate of Christ what he was yet this reason inferres not that faith must therefore firstly lay hold upon the humanitie before the deitie but when the Lord is pleased to reveale Jesus Christ to the soule in the way of conversion then wee must apprehend Christ as God and Man in the point of conversion and then let the question be this whither the soule shall goe for that which it wants Now I see no reason why the soule should firstly goe to the humanity for what it wants and seekes hence it is that when the Scripture comes to speake in the way of conversion the Godhead is set first as in the 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe as God in Christ reconciles the world unto himselfe so God reveales himselfe to his faithfull Ministers and so they reveale him to the people it was the Godhead that was offended and must first of all be pleased and unto that God we must first goe for what we want so Ieremy 33.16 In those dayes Iudah shall be saved and Israel shall bee saved and this is the Name whereby they shall call him the Lord our righteousnesse so said the Angell they shall call his Name Emanuel which is by interpretation God with us this is to the first reason now to the second argument I answer thus If it bee good in reason that wee must first goe to the humane nature for these reasons propounded and if this be sufficient to call my faith that way because all the great workes are wrought that way then much more seeing the humane nature was inabled to the worke by the divine nature therefore my faith must first looke that way because the weight of the worke lies upon the Deitie the humane nature cannot assume to take to it selfe this glory not bee any way available to satisfie divine justice but that the Deitie enabled it and therefore faith must first of all looke unto that Thus it is confessed that the soule of a beleever is advanced to a marvellous high privilege now the use of it is referred to these three heads Vse 1 First are the soules of the faithfull come thus neere to Christ not onely to beleeve in him and to embrace him but to bee one Spirit with him then this may bee a use of instruction and it shewes to us that the sinnes of the faithfull are marvellous hainous in Gods account and exceeding grievous to his blessed Spirit that hath come so neere to us and brought us so neere unto himselfe every sinne is as a mountaine or as a wall of separation but the sinnes of the faithfull are no lesse than rebellion not
justified him Now the ground of this comfort lieth in three particulars or it affords a threefold consolation First because God the Father hath all things to doe with the soule of a beleever all the suits that are to bee made against a poore soule they come from God and if hee will cease the suit who can follow it if he will say hee is satisfied and well apaid then who can take any advantage against the soule Looke as it is with the Lord of a manour haply hee hath an ill neighbour lives under him and doth him much damage many wayes and the Noble man at last is resolved to follow the law against him therefore the poore man comes in and desires pardon of all that hee hath done amisse and promiseth never to doe the like and the Gentleman out of his noble disposition acquits him and forgives all now imagine some of the servants come in and raise clamours and complaints against him and all the servants of the family are against him well the poore man makes them this answer I have wronged none of you therefore if your Lord bee contented to acquit me I care not what you say I have not wronged you neither doe I feare you this is that which should chear up our hearts infinitely that God the Father is the Lord of the mannour even the Lord of the whole world and if there be any transgression done against thy neighbour whatsoever hee is the Lord of the manour it were no offence to steale but that he hath forbidden it and it were no offence to be disobedient to Parents but that hee hath said Honour thy father and mother c. The goods of thy neighbour are the Lords and the dammage that is done is against the Lord Now if God the Father doe mercifully acquit you and saith hee will pardon the breach of all his Commandements if God acquit us what need wee feare or care what the Devill sayes against us it may bee the Devill will come in and commence a suit against us and say what you be saved yes that 's a likely matter are you not guiltie of this and that well brethren we have done the Devill no wrong against thee onely have I sinned saith David it was against the commands of my good God and his holy Spirit it was against my Father and my Redeemer and they will pardon my sinne God saith I will forgive all that wrong done to me then let the Devill goe and shake his ears looke as it is with a creditor if he hath gotten the suretie in suit he will acquit the debtor and if the debtor be acquitted all the bailiffes in the world can doe him no hurt and hee saith I am out of your debt and danger so it is here God the Father is the Creditor wee have wronged God most infinitely wee owe unto God all that wee have but yet hee hath blotted out all our iniquities therefore if the Devill follow the suit it matters not The Lord saith I will remember his sinnes no more therefore the Devill can pursue him no further Secondly there can bee no court in the world can alter our justification if a man be righted in a lower court a higher court may call it over againe and overthrow it but this is admirable consolation doth God the Father acquit us in Heaven then let the Devill goe and appeale where he will A man never appeals from a higher court to a lower but from a lower court to a higher now all your sinnes are pardoned and you are acquitted in Heaven therefore goe your way comforted and let the Devill appeale where he will no man can reverse it The mercy of the Lord and his sentence endureth for ever you know it was Saint Pauls plea when hee saw that the Jewes were maliciously bent against him to have his life he said No man may deliver me unto them I appeale unto Cesar he saw hee should have hard dealing there if hee were committed to them therefore he appeals unto Cesar so we we have had our case tried in Heaven wee have Cesars judgement seat to goe unto the first person of the Trinitie is our Father the Creditor hath made it good unto us by the witnesse of the Spirit that our iniquities are pardoned and that he will heare no more of them therefore goe away for ever cheared and comforted Vse 2 Again in the second place we have here a word of direction Is God the Father the Judge of the Court then let me speak a word to all hūble broken hearted sinners when you have many Judges to sit upon you in your owne heart bee sure that you bee not judged by them but repaire unto God the Father and get his sentence upon them and whatsoever hee speakes submit unto it and bee contented to judge your selves and your estates answerable by it This is the great misery of many poore creatures that as many miseries as they have so many Judges they have sometimes their feare sits upon them and then they are damped sometimes their suspition sits upon them and then they are marvellously disquieted and sometimes hope sits upon them and then they are a little comforted Oh brethren and beloved in the Lord bee wise now for your soules and put your case to be tried onely by the Lord and not by every one Wee would count him a mad man that having a case of weight to bee tried should commit it to an enemy that hates him or else to an ignorant man that hath no skill at all in the businesse no wise man will doe it but hee appeales to the Judge of the court and lets him cast the cause just so it is here there are many of you some there are I am sure that have a sight of your sinnes and sometimes you thinke that God will certainly commence the suit against you what so many sinnes within mee and so many corruptions to follow mee and oppresse mee certainly my heart is naught are you so ignorant to commit your cause to bee judged by them your carnall reason is an enemie and your owne hearts are weake and not able to understand therefore go to a higher court and say with your selves I care not what the world saith and what carnall reason saith I passe not speake thou Lord a word of comfort to my soule and if his word bee for you then bee for ever comforted and quieted and looke onely to the judgement of the Lord and to none other it is in his hands onely to passe sentence and to condemne as hee seeth fit in his righteous judgement therefore stand to the sentence of him whose Word must stand and shall stand for ever as mount Zion If a plaintiffe have a case to be tried in the court of justice he cares not what the dispute of the lawyers be One man thinkes thus another thinkes thus another would be passing sentēce and saith thus it must be he cares not
is this Doctrine Our Saviour Christ never yeelded the least improvement of heart to sinne neither did hee ever commit the least sinne in his life and conversation our Saviour Christ knew no sinne at all by experience this is that which all the types and sacrifices of the old Law did signifie which were all as so many severall testimonies of the holinesse and puritie of the Lord Jesus Christ therefore he was called the Lambe without blemish and it was prophesied of him in Esay 53.9 That he had done no wickednesse neither was deceit found in his mouth and his enemy Pilate said I finde no fault in him at all and our Saviour himselfe saith the Prince of this world commeth and hath nought in mee that is no sinne Iohn 14.30 The arguments are briefly these Reason Looke into the Nature of our Saviour and the Office of our Saviour looke into his Manhood as he was perfect Man for the seed of the woman was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and was purged and sanctified and the course of originall sinne was stayed and when the body was framed the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ and all the fulnesse of grace was in him then the point must needs bee cleere that there was no evill in him no mutabilitie to incline to any evil nor no power could prevaile with him to draw him to any evill Againe looke into the Office of our Saviour for he that came to be a sacrifice for sinne must needs want sinne or else he could not be a sacrifice for sinne so the point is cleere we come now to the application Vse 1 The first use is a word of exhortation and it ought to provoke all you that are faithfull and are beleevers to conforme your hearts and conversations answerable to the heart and life of Christ did not Christ give the least improvement of heart to any sinne nor practise the least sinne in any measure then goe thou and doe likewise be thou like thy Saviour that thou mayest have some evidence that thou hast a title unto him It is that which the Apostle makes as a speciall collection Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse but bee you followers of God as deare children Ephes 5.1 Christ had no sinne nor fellowship with sinne let his course and practice bee thy copie But some will say what would you have us to bee Saints here on earth â— how can it be that we should know no sin when we have such a body of death hanging upon us yes we may know no sinne though it doe hang about us the Apostle doth not say equall God in holinesse but imitate him and he doth not say follow him fully but even as deare children Now though the childe cannot goe so fast as the father yet he will follow as fast as he can and when hee hath done what he can then he cries to his father to help him and carrie him to the journeyes end and so ought we to doe nay so we will doe if we are true children and not bastards the Father is infinitely full of holinesse Follow God as deare children doe what you can and then â—rie to him to inable you to doe what you cannot doe It was the practice of the Prophet David Psalme 63.1 My soule thirsteth for thee and my heart longeth after thee therefore in the 119. Psalme 4 5. Thou hast commanded to keepe thy Commandements diligently oh that my heart meâ— so directed thaâ— I might doe it as if hee had said I know the Law requireth it and it is my dutie to doe it helpe Lord and take Lord and carry Lord thy poore servant and lead mee into the land of righteousnesse it is an evidence of one that is borne of God 1 Iohn 5.18 Whosoever is borne of God sinneth not and the evill one toucheth him not so if you are such as have Christ Jesus formed in you you will labour to keepe your selves that the wicked one touch you not hee doth not say hee will not entertaine it but he will not keep company with it A man must doe by sinne as wee would do by a man whose coÌ„pany we shun if we would not have acquaintance with him then we carry our selves strangely to him if he call we will not answer if he knocke we will not open we keep our selves close that wee may not change a word with him so it will bee with every one of you that are borne of God you will have nothing to doe with your old pettish lusts and base humours and haunts of spirits and whomsoever it be that hath had dalliance with you heretofore you will avoid the place and presence of them and say I know not those distempers nor the place not occasions of them I will meddle with them no more I will not owne them I have done it too too much already if they come I will not yeeld and if they follow I will flee I have read an old story of a man that was carried away much by a harlot at last the Lord meets him and opened his eyes and humbled his soule and brought him out of his sinfull condition many a day after the harlot met him againe and the man would not looke on her and shee began to seft kindnesse upon him and said I am she you know wee have had much sweet dalliance together Oh but saith he blessed be God I am not I that is I am not the man that I was before so should we though wee are nothing but sinne by nature and know nothing but corruption yet if the old sluggishnesse and stubbornnes of heart and haughtinesse that we have too too much received if they come and say we are the darlings that have had much sweet fellowship and communion with you make them answer and say I am not the man I will have no more to doe with you Let every heart be here incouraged not to regard the base respects of sinne or of the world they will say it is not good to bee too holy and too precise make answer and say I cannot bee too holy Jesus Christ knew no sinne the heart and life of Jesus Christ is that which wee ought to respect and imitate Now I come to the main proposition and that is this that the debt of the sinner is charged upon our Saviour so saith the description and so say the words of the Text conceive here thus much that our Saviour had the debt of a sinner charged upon him partly by imputation and partly by personall performance he did performe the payment personally the debt was by imputation but the payment was by reall and personall performance and as our sinnes and debts were made his by imputation so the payment was his really laid downe and suffered for us Two things I must lay downe before I can open the point First what is meant by sinne Secondly why Christ is said to be made sin First what is meant by sinne Answer
against him and to take all the advantages against him and howsoever the Lord will not condemne him yet to let out his wrath against him though not to condemne him yet to distract him This is that which Iob makes to be the ground of that bitter complaint of his and made him sit downe in distractednesse of heart under the heavy displeasure of the Lords wrath that though God would not damne him yet when the Lord takes away his loving countenance and lets in his indignation into his soule to his humiliation terrour and vexation this sunke him infinitely and this God might doe to every beleever under Heaven Iob 13.24 26. Why hidest thou away thy face and takest mee for thine enemie God seemed to bee displeased with him and to frowne upon him and carried himselfe to Iob as an enemy and in the 26. verse Thou writest bitter things against me and makest mee to inherit the sinnes of my youth The old lusts and the old bruses of his youth whereby he had dishonoured God though these were pardoned before yet God renewes them and puts in the suit against him the second time and makes the sinnes of his youth to bee inherited by him that looke as the land descends to the heire so the Lord made the sinnes and vanities of his soule to be possessed by him and brought out all his abominations out of record Thou writest bitter things against me that is the Lord tooke all the advantages against him that might be and said Remember the old lusts of thy heart and the vanities of thy youth and this made him like a drie leafe tossed too and fro as verse 25. Oh how easie were it for God if hee should but report to a mans conscience any little sinne that was committed the night before and set it on and seale it to the heart it would drive the stoutest heart under heaven to despaire Psalme 88.15 Thy terrours have I suffered from my youth upwards and I have beene distracted with them Lord why castest thou off my soule I am afflicted and ready to die It is certaine and I have knowne it that the most stoutest heart and rebellious lion-like disposition that sets himselfe against God and his grace if God let him but see his sinne and say this is thy pride and thy stubbornnesse and rebellion it would drive the stoutest heart under heaven beyond it selfe nay to utter distraction of minde Psalme 40.12 Innumerable troubles have taken hold upon me they have so compassed me about that I am not able to looke up Every sinne is like a great bandog that is muzzeld and if hee bee once let loose he will teare all in peeces so the Lord sometimes muzzels a mans corruptions and keeps them under and if the Lord doe but now and then let them loose then they pull a man downe and hence comes all those pale lookes and discouragements of soule these are they that will thus worry a man Thus every beleever must acknowledge that it were just with the Lord to let loose his sinne howsoever not to condemne him yet to make him live at little peace or quiet and hence it is that the Prophet David praies so against it Psalme 51.9 when he had committed those two great sins of adultery and murther though God after his confession had sealed to his soule the pardon of them yet hee went with broken bones and therefore he saith Hide away thy face from my sinnes and put away all mine iniquities as if he had said looke not upon my sinnes as a judge doe not follow the Law against me let not my sinnes or my person bee once brought into the Court or bee once named but looke upon the Lord Jesus Christ for mee and for his sake blot out all mine iniquities Thirdly every beleever accepted and justified in and through Christ by the Father yet hee is bound thus farre to charge his sinne upon his owne soule and lay them so much upon himselfe as to maintain in his owne heart a sense of the need that he hath of Christ as well as to continue our respect and acceptation with God as to bring us at first into the love and favour of God Indeed if we could quit our selves and cleare our hands of any sin committed by us it were something then we would be ready to say as the people to Ieremie We are holy we are lords we will come no more at thee No it is necessary seeing Christ is yet in the worke of the mediatourship that we should see a dayly need of him this is the reason of that great complaint of David Psal 51.1.2 a man would thinke that hee would have beene comforted and gone away cheerfully having the pardon of his sinnes but marke how hee cries Have mercy upon me oh God according to the multitude of thy compassions wash away all my transgressons wash mee throughly from all my transgressions and purge mee from my sinne Hee had not onely need of Christ before his conversion to justifie him but he had need of Christ now to continue the assurance of his justification it is not a drop but a bucket full of mercy not a little mercy but a whole ocean Lord I have had a great deale of mercy for the sinnes of my youth and I have need of a great deale of mercy still to wash away the guilt of my sinnes this the Law required of every man that did offer sacrifice as they were to offer their dayly sacrifice so wee have dayly need of Christ and therefore wee must have a dayly recourse to Christ therefore the sacrificer was to lay his hands upon the head of the sacrifice Even so doe thou lay thine hands upon the Lord Jesus Christ and rest upon him and thou shalt finde acceptance with him this is that which sometimes chears up the drooping heart and bears it up in the midst of all the waves of wickednesse when he sees the vanitie of his mind and the deadnesse of his heart and frothinesse of his speech and now sinne and then sinne and in every thing sinne as you cannot but see and confesse it this stands the poore sinner in stead when hee considers this and saith though I am dayly sinning yet there is a Saviour in Heaven and mercy and grace in him that I may be comforted therein for ever Hebrewes 7.25 Hee is able to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him It implies these two things not onely from all sinne but also at all times not onely from the sinnes of your youth but also to the uttermost of your dayes the reason is hee lives for ever to doe it this is the chearing of a poore sinner and this wee should labour to maintain and to keepe the sight and sense of our sinne though our sinnes endure for ever our living and sinning goe together and we still continue to be as sinfull and lazy and idle as ever yet see a need of a
what will ye spit in my face what you what and to a Saviour too and will ye pierce my soule by the corruptions of your hearts and by the actions of your hands thus the Lord Jesus Christ perswades you to see sin and to abhorre and 〈◊〉 it upon all occasions and therefore let us answâ—â— the requests of our Saviour and not shew our selves desperately wicked to pierce him againe and to renew his sufferings Vse 2 In the second place did our Saviour suffer these paines then see here the strictnesse of Gods justice Oh that exact precise severitie of Gods proceedings without exception of any mans person God puts no difference although hee were his Sonne but hee layes punishment upon him This is the reason of that exact dealing of God in Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish shall bee upon the soule of every one that sinned and why 〈◊〉 God is no respecter of persons as verse 11. that the ground of it and it is not onely exprest but it 〈◊〉 also proved undeniable Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the bountie and severitie of God towards them which have fallen severitie but towards that bountifulnesse remember Gods just proceeding against the Jewes and therefore it is that the Apostle citeth all the proceedings of Gods judgements not onely against the heathens that never knew him or his enemies that alwayes opposed him but even to his friends such as he had shewed much favour and mercy to if they sinne they shall be destroyed for their sinne But oh the just exactnesse of the justice of the Lord how severely just he is for this exactnesse is not onely upon the wicked and open profane but upon his owne deare children and they that have had his ordinances as in Amos the Prophet shewes what favours they had received in regard of the means but yet feel how severely the Lord punisheth them but he hold the miracle of justice in the Lord Jesus Christ his onely Sonne in whom his soule delighted our Saviour that had but the shadoâ—s of sinne had all punishments laid upon him in thick 〈◊〉 Now answer me whether God the Father bee not a strict God or no and a just and righteous God that would thus deale with his onely Sonne A man would have thought if any thing in the world could have stopped the hand of Divine justice that it should not proceed from God the Father then Christ he might have done it for her had all that ever any one in the world could have If the excellency of the person of our Saviour could have done it or the holinesse of the soule of our Saviour then he might have beene exempted from punishment yet all these were not able to doe it because hee was a suretie but yet a man would have thought that those teares of blood might in some measure moderate the matter could not those servent petitions of him have had so much as some abatement of the punishment when he cried out saying Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me and then againe the second time Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from mee nay the third time Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me The Son of God was now upon the racke with it if it be possible let this cup passe from mee let mee onely have a sip and away and so let it passe from mee Surely if any thing could have stopped the hand of divine justice then Christ might have done it but God would not nor did not abate our Saviour one drop of his indignation but God inflicts it all and Christ suffers â— all behold therefore if thus bee not a just God heare and feare all you that heare the good word of the Lord this day you that thinke that Christ is made all of mercy it is a God of your owne imagination and your owne devising it is not that God which is the Lord of heaven and earth it is not the God of hoâ—sts the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ Oh say poore ignorant people he is a very mercifull God and full of compassion it is true hee is mercifull indeed but know this also to thy terrour that God is strict and precisely righteous you thinke to put off God with a few good words and lazy wishes and with a Lord have mercy upon us and if you can have but an houres time before your death to cry God mercy oh their you thinke all shall be well and God will goe away with anything and because you suffer a little punishments and afflictions in this life therefore you thinke to bee freed from them altogether hereafter no no know thou shalt not carry it away so indeed thou hast troubles and afflictions here but thou shalt have eternitie of torments for ever in the life to come if thou still continuest to bee a sinfull wretch and an unbeleeve there is no way with thee but to beare thy owne plagues and miseries hereafter when thou seest the Sonne of God himselfe corrected dost thou thinke to goe free if God would not bare oils Saviour any thing of it dost thou thinke he will abate thee any thing againe our Saviour had our sins onely imputed to him but thy sins thou hast committed them thy selfe and canst thou thinke to escape that are proud and stubborne and malicious and liest and livest be thy sins and dost wallow in them and allow of thy selfe in the commission of them no surely God will not spare any blasphemer nor unclean wretch nor profane person under heaven if he did not spare his owne Son he will not spare thee but hee will inflict upon thee the sharpest punishments that can bee imagined therefore now if God bee so severe against sinne then let your affections be answerable thereunto doe you pitie none that are sinfull not onely slaves but in a childe a son a husband let us labour to get a hearefull of hatred against sin in any of these nay though shee were the wife of thy bosome or thy childe or thy deere friend if thou seest sin in them bee sure to punish it especially you that are in places of authoritie into whose hands God hath committed the sword of the Magistracie for the execution of justice You that are Gods vice-gerents upon earth doe you as God himselfe hath done and walke in his way and so bee blessed in whatsoever you doe I said ye are Gods saith David every Magistrate every Justice in the countrie and every Master of a family ye are Gods that is ye have the Image of God put into you and therefore say thou with thy selfe in this manner would God suffer a swearer or a blasphemer or a prophane person or a drunkard or an adulterer to goe unpunished and would God suffer a prophaner of his Sabbath and would not reforme him then whatsoever is amisse in thy owne soule or in thy wife or childe or servant if it be in thy place punish if
the mountaines fall on us and to the hils cover us from the presence of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand If any man could beare up himselfe then it were the great ones of the world now take a scantling of your owne strength if any were able to beare the wrath of the Lord it were the kings and the mightie men and the captaines and the rich men of the world but faith the text The day of the Lords wrath is come and who shall bee able to stand It is not the soveraigntie of the king nor the skill and courage of the captaine or the libertie of the freeman or the slavery of the bondman that can deliver them but they all crie to the rocks fall on us and cover us from the presence of the Lord nay that you may yet see the vildnesse and wretchednesse of your hearts and the miserablenesse of your condition when the presence of the Lord appeares see what the text saith Psalme 114.5 7. The sea fled and the earth trembled the hils melted at the presence of the Lord nay the devils themselves tremble as in the 6. and 8. verses of the epistle of Saint Iude The Angels which kept not their first love he hath reserved in everlasting chaines under darknesse to be kept for the judgement of the last day they have their portion for the while but there is a great deale of wrath to come and there are many plagues comming and they know Gods wrath and they shake and tremble in the apprehension of it now when you see this goe home to your owne soules and let every man that would heretofore as his owne conscience can tell him flout God to his face and make a scorn of hell and of judgement and condeÌ„nation go home I say lay this to your owne hearts and say is it so that the mountains shak and the sea shrinks and the devils tremble at the wrath of the Lord good Lord then how shall I be able to beare it that am not able to coÌ„ceive of it nay if any man think that hee is able to undergoe the wrath of God and to bear it off with head and shoulders look but here upon the Lord Jesus Christ that was perfect God and perfect man he that created heaven and earth and bote up the foundation of heaven and earth yet when hee came to beaâ—t the wrath of God it forced teares from his eyes and clodded blood from his body and made him crie out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Doe but now compare your selves with Christ and say did my Saviour buckle under the wrath of God then certainly it will breake you therefore say thou if hee that was the Creator of heaven and earth could not beare it then how shall I be able to beare it when he comes against me for my siâ— and corruption committed by me therefore heart and feare all you stout hearted of the world rather now tremble while you may be comforted than hereafter when you shall never be eased thinke but with your selves how dreadfull that day will be when all the glorious attributes of God shall take their leaves of you he that before had a great deale of mercy and patience and the Lord hath wooed him saying Oh once at last heare and see the things that belong to thy peace there is not one of you all in this congregation but that you have beene compast about with mercies and the justice of God it would have broken out against you had not mercy stepped in to rescue you how easie were it for the Lord to dash us all into the bottomlesse pit every creature of us therefore thanke mercy and patience and forbearance that still you breathe and say blessed bee God that I have to deale with a gracious mercifull and compassionate God that hath kept mee from judgement that I have not ere now perished in it Now thinke with your selves what a day it wil be when mercy shal weep over you take his leave of you say remeÌ„ber thou poore creature how I met thee in thy walkes and kneeled downe before thee and besought thee to take mercy and to be saved and pardoned but thou wouldst not adem therefore this is the last time of asking I will never see thy face more and with that patience as it were buckles under the burthen and saith I have bond with their thus longe I have borne twenty years with some thirtie years with some fortie years with others and all this which I have borne with thee in thy pride and stubbornesse and loosenesse and uncleannesse but now adew never more patience to beare with you what no more mercy nor no more goodnesse saith the soule and they all say no and stake their hands and say adew thou rebellious heart for ever it will make thy heart shake within thee and thou wilt say I shall sinke downe suddenly there is nothing but wrath to bee expected they are all gone to heaven and you must be forever packing to hell Oh feare and feare all you whom it doth concerne this day if so bee Christ cannot beare it then you cannot suffer it but you will sinke under the same for ever Now I come to the reasons of the point in generall why our Saviour suffered paines both in body and in soule then the reasons of it are three and they are all of speciall use Reason 1 First it is taken from the divine justice of God which required this by way of satisfaction as being onely surable and agreeable to the divine justice of God by reason of sinne whereby Adam had intrenched upon the privilege of God the Father every breach of the Law of God intrencheth neerly upon God himselfe and therefore every sinne is of a provoking nature because it is committed against an infinite majestie therefore that divine justice may not be a loser there must be a punishment not onely corporall but also spirituall for justice abates not any thing of the satisfaction God is just and this is justice to give every one his due honour to whom honour belongs and punishment to whom punishment belongs therefore that justice may bee preserved she must inflict these punishments upon our Saviour being in our roome the Jesuites have devised a cavill against this reason say they it needed not that Christ should suffer these for the dignitie of the person of our Saviour may dispence with some part of the punishment and if he beare death it is sufficient he may bee freed from the other paines in his soule Now that this conceit of theirs is a thing marvellous injurious to the justice of God the Father and to the wisedome of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the death of Christ I prove it thus for by the same right that the dignitie of the person of our